Saturday, August 11, 2012

My apologies to my readers, as I have not posted in quite some time. Unfortunately, work has taken a considerable amount of my free time and posting here was lost in the shuffle. There has been a considerable amount of work accomplished in my absence.

Boston Elevated Railway Type-5 5645 - Galen Semprebon, along with Scott Kritzky and John Pelletier have been working tirelessly on the car in order to get it ready for Rails to the Darkside. The motors are back in its trucks and they have been tested and all appear to be working correctly. Once the motors were tested, the trucks were pushed back under the car and wired up. Inside the car, Kelly has been working on pieces for the heating loop system. We were able to find the proper door motor seals and John has been able to repair the door motors.

Brooklyn Rapid Transit car 169 - Scott Kritzky has taken on the project of the cosmetic restoration of car 169. In the past week, he has made some great headway removing the paint from the exterior clerestory of the car. When the car has been completed, we will be able to move the car out of the shop and put it on display in the Visitor Center.

Boston Elevated Railway PCC 3100 - Chris Perry has been working on car 3100 just outside the shop. Over the years, many of the window posts have deteriorated around the bases. One by one, he has been removing the old window posts and welding in newly fabricated ones. A new front step well has been fabricated as well, but has yet to be installed. In the rear of the car, a new left rear fender support has been fabricated and welded in place as the original support was in pieces. Although Chris only is able to work on the car one week a year, each year he makes considerable progress on the car. In a few years, we should have a display-worthy car.

Illinois Terminal PCC 451 - Kevin Mitchell and the Boy Scouts have just about completed the repainting of car 451. There is some minor detail work to finish but overall the car looks much better than it did when the project commenced.

Visitor Center Train Shed - Thanks to Louis, the walkway along the edge of the building in the Train Shed area is progressing nicely. The framing has been installed and the walkway planks are being cut to fit. This will be an excellent alternative display area for the 2013 season.

Monday, July 2, 2012

It is amazing to see the progress that has been continuing at a fantastic rate. Work has been accomplished in a number of places by a range of volunteers.

In Kelly Barn, Illinois Terminal car 451 received its first coat of paint. This project has been a long time coming. On Saturday, the primer coat was finished. First thing Sunday morning, those helping Kevin Mitchell on his Eagle Scout Project began to apply the green base coat. By the end of the day, I was told that the whole car should have the green finished.

Up on the hill, almost half of the roof was replaced on The New York New Haven & Hartford coach (also known as the "Dining Car") by John Pelletier. This has allowed us to remove some of the tarps from the car, thus making it look much more aesthetically pleasing. Once the roof on the car is completed, we should be able to re-purpose those tarps to replace the failed tarps on Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee car 162.

Under the Train Shed, The Bangor & Aroostook Caboose wood is getting primed. Most of the wood has already been completed thanks to the hard workof a group of volunteers in the evening. In addition, a couple of our "Community Service volunteers" have been working on priming the wood as well. It shouldn't be long before we can start to pull the wood off of the roof.

Inside the Lusa Car Shop, one truck set has been fully tested for the Boston Elevated Railway car 5645. We have had our resident machinists hard at work manufacturing some of the missing parts for the car (clips, covers, etc). Next weekend that truck should be pushed under the car and the car lowered back down on it. Then we can slide the car down the track and do the same with the other end.

For the past couple of weeks, Fair Haven & Westville Railroad car 355 has been sitting over the Maintenance Pit. Work was completed over the weekend on the brake rigging of car 355. Bits of the underside of the car had to be "re-engineered" because of a problem where the brake rigging was chafing one of the motor leads.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Thanks to John Gasper and Aaron Mangan, the museum's bucket truck is now operational. Sunday, I helped them lift the hydraulic cylinders in place and pin them in. It was more work than we initially thought because they location of the boom required the cylinders to be extended out. We had to get the cylinders just right and even still it was a pain because the bushings needed to be cleaned up as well. Finally just after noon, we were able to get the truck together.

In other news, bus 3001 in the Bus Museum is now running after we changed out the batteries. It still needs to be cleaned up and other repairs made to it, however, we know that it runs!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Saturday was a very busy day at the museum. The shop has become an increasingly busy place, with the addition of a new volunteer, Kelly. While up in the shop, she was able to learn quite a few new tasks with the help of our shop staff from welding to drilling holes in the motor support bearing covers. Scott Kritzky brought her into the pit under Fair Haven & Westville car 355 where they were working on the brake rigging on the car. He was also busy with his project in Boston Elevated Railway car 5645 of removing the seats to replace the flooring under them.

In the machine shop, Brandon Slane spent the better part of the morning machining a new bracket for a gear case cover on 5645. It is amazing the precision that can be seen in machining new parts. I, for one, can see what I need and will know what it should look like in the end, but would have no idea how to begin to decide what cuts need to be made to get there with a part so intricate. I say intricate because I have no idea what to do, but it really isn't much. That is why machinists are necessary at the museum.

I spent some of the morning packing the motor support bearings with waste for 5645. When you look at the packing, it looks like you just shove some balls of "thread" into the oil wells for the bearings. That is not he case at all. There is a very specific way of doing this so that it will wick the oil properly. The strands of waste must be dropped down into the well so that the go from the bottom of the well to the top. They must be in coils in there so that there are no ends that can be "grabbed" by the rotation of the axle.

This is just a sample of what types of work that we do in the shop. Each weekend it varies. Stop down some weekend and help out. You will be sure to learn a lot!

Friday, June 8, 2012

As you may have read, I have started hosting a Thursday night work session. There just aren't enough hours in the short weekends that we have and there have been people in the past who have expressed interest in working at the museum on an evening during the week. Because of that, on Thursday evenings after 5pm, I will be at the museum to host work parties. This past week, we accomplished quite a bit of priming on the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. Hopefully in the coming weeks, the priming of the wood will be completed and we will be able to start the removal of the roof and siding.

Xian Clere also removed the carburetor from the Tie Inserter. John Gasper is planning to rebuild it. A few weeks ago, he brought a new exhaust to the museum for the Tie Inserter as well.

Galen Semprebon spent some time working on setting up a test machine to test motors before they are put back under the trolley cars. This will help immensely so that we will be able to be sure that the motors work properly and not have to jack the cars up a second time once we realize that there is a problem with them. Currently, the only way that we have to test them is to put them under the car and run the car.

Monday, June 4, 2012

The downside of this weekend was that it was a complete washout. The upside, a lot of work was accomplished in the shop.

First, Vacuum Impregnation. We knew it worked, but did not know how well it actually worked. We were splicing ends of wires on the Field Coils for the Boston Elevated 5645 and had to cut a sizable length of wire off. When we cut about 4 inches of wire, we noticed that the varnish had worked its way up the wire between each individual strand. Now we know why it took a half gallon of varnish for one set of Field Coils.

Second, Floor Replacement. Also in the Type 5, Scott has been hard at work replacing the floor in the car. One side is completely finished. The seats have been put back in place but not completely bolted down. He has begun to remove the seats from the other side of the car.

Third, Milling. While this was for the Fire Museum, it was still work that was accomplished this weekend. Pat McCann had a piece of metal stock in the lathe and was working on milling a new piece for one of the fire trucks. What the piece was, I am not sure. The only thing that I am certain of is that it was broken. It is amazing what we now have in the shop for abilities.

Fourth, Engine Repair. Now we have migrated over to the Bus Museum. One of the Buses had developed a leak which we thought was due to a blown head gasket. While John Gasper was tearing down the engine, he found out that the cause was only a missing bolt, which happened to be laying in the engine compartment waiting to be installed. Luckily he did not pull the heads yet and was able to replace the bolt, put the engine back together and get he bus running.

It was quite a busy day at the museum for the shop staff. In addition, many small things were accomplished. Two seats for New Orleans car 836 were repaired in the shop by John Pelletier. George Contrada assisted me in removing the rest of the metal straps from the side of Brooklyn Rapid Transit car 169. I was able to get a coat of primer on more wood for the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. Xian Clere installed new seats in the rear of the newly acquired 1975 American-LaFrance from Ellington.

I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I did not talk about the work that occurred during the week as well. Work on the Dining Car...No, I cannot call it the dining car. I hate that term for it since it never was a dining car in service, even though everyone knows it as such. Work on New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad combine 2765 is progressing. The new sill has been installed on the east side of the car which will stop the rain from entering the car from under the windows. The car still needs to have the sill on the west side replaced and the roof repaired. At that point it should once again be watertight. Then, we will need to replace some of the siding on the car to make it look aesthetically pleasing.

I will close while telling you about something new. Starting this week, I plan to start hosting Thursday evening work sessions. The work session will begin around 5pm and we will work until we decide to call it quits. Quite a few railroad museums do this, because we cannot get enough done on the weekend. Our primary project will be working on the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose. However, if we get enough people, there is plenty else to work on. Any questions, or if you wish to help out, please let me know...tlesniak@ceraweb.org.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

It was amazing to see the many projects that were occurring on Saturday.

In the Track Department, Larry Lunden assisted me in preparing ties for installation on the mainline. Our ties are relay ties that still have the old plates and spikes on them.

After we were finished, I went to the Fire Museum building to collect the battery that I had on a trickle-charge for the Tie Handler. The once-dead battery once again held a charge so I brought it over to the Tie Handler TH-2, and installed it. I also drained the fuel from the fuel tank and cleaned the rust and other debris out of it. Then, I filled it back up with new fuel. The machine started right up and ran great for a while. With Xian Clere, I took the machine out on the mainline and loaded ties on the Tie Handler's flat car. Unfortunately, there must still be something in the tank because after around a half hour of running, the machine started to sputter and I had difficulty keeping it running. Once I got in the clear in the siding, we got it running well again. However, I did not want to chance it starving for fuel again on the mainline in front of passenger service again, so we left it in the siding and planned to continue working after operations ended. However, we never had the chance to do so because of so many other things going on.

Xian Clere, Aaron Mangan, and John Gasper worked on the Tie Inserter. They re-installed the newly repaired fuel tank. In addition, they installed a new fuel bowl and inline fuel filter on the machine. Unfortunately, they could not get it started. An hour or so later after everyone else had given up, I heard the familiar putt-putt of the motor after John finally got the machine started.

In the shop, John Pelletier and Scott (Unfortunately I do not know his last name) were hard at work on various projects with Rio de Janiero car 1850. The car is in the shop for routine maintenance. With the help of Pat McCann, a workbench was brought into the shop and brought into the woodworking area.

In the back corner of the shop, Galen Semprebon was working on the newly impregnated field coils for the Boston Elevated Type-5 5645. He was peeling back some of the taping around the fields and replacing it. In doing so, it appears that the vacuum impregnation of the field coils was successful. We now have the ability to vacuum impregnate in our shop!

In front of the shop, Camilo Santiago completed the work on one end of sanding the Reading Caboose, and began to work on the other end of the interior. The exterior of the caboose was completed by an Eagle Scout a few years ago.

Inside Kelly Barn, our current Eagle Scout project is underway. Kevin Mitchell and his crew did some more preparatory work to get ready for the painting of the Illinois Terminal PCC Car 451.

The doors of the barn got some attention too. One of our community service volunteers spent the day painting the interior of the doors to the barn. Hopefully in a few weekends, he will have this project completed.

In the section house, George Contrada, Dillon Worth, and another volunteer were working on the speeder. They flushed the radiator and did preventative maintenance.

The one project that I had hoped to work on, I ran out of time. I had hoped to work on the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose beginning to prime the new tongue and groove side panels.

In the Fire Museum, members were hard at work on preparing a Motor Coach for a head gasket replacement.

Finally, the big event for the day was the filming inside and outside of our Chicago North Shore cars, 162 and 710 respectively. A student from New York University brought an entire film crew to the museum from the city to do filming for a senior film project.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Work has been progressing quite nicely all around the museum. Camilo Santiago is back and is working on the Reading Caboose in front of the shop. It will be great once the interior of that caboose is completed. Just inside the shop, John Pelletier is leading the shop in getting the Boston Elevated Railway Type 5, 5645 put back together. We now have the ability to vacuum impregnate our own field coils in the shop. The floor in the type 5 is also coming along quite well.

Coming up this Saturday, we will be having a Track Work Session commencing at 0800 to work in the vicinity just east of Woods Turnout.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

The Wine & Beer Tasting was a huge success. Thank you for all who volunteered for it and those who attended. Thank you to the New England Ukulele Group and Jeannie Murphy for volunteering their time for entertainment. Thank you to Geisslers, Stir the Pot, and Jimmy Chen's for running the food concessions. Also, thank you to our friends at New England Bank for volunteering their time after work in running the admissions and raffle tables AND handing out bottle openers that they had made up. Thank you to Carol Zenczak for all of her hard work in setting up the tasting and thank you to all those who donated to the Vandalism Fund, businesses and individuals alike. Finally, a BIG thank you to Leslie Hickey and Joe's Fine Wines and Spirits and all of the distributors and breweries that donated their time and product to help make this event a huge success!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Saturday was the Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Electric Railway Association. During the Annual Meeting, Mike Caputo's term on the Board of Directors has expired and he has chose not to seek re-election. Neil Newman was elected and will fill Mike's seat on the Board. In addition, Ted Coppola, Justin Chasse, and John Arel were all re-elected to the Board of Directors. Also the following officers were elected: President - Galen Semprebon, Vice President & Corporate Secretary - Tim Lesniak, Treasurer - Steve Taylor, Chairman - Fred Stroiney, Vice-Chairman - Jim Miller.

Monday, April 30, 2012

In the Lusa Car Shop, Galen Semprebon, Brian Semprebon, and John Pelletier have been able to get the dust collector set up and running. Now, the wood shop is taking shape. Machines are being placed in strategic locations and they are preparing to order the duct work for the machines.

Springfield Terminal car 16 is nearly ready to be returned to service, with newly painted steps & bumpers, a repaired roof & floor, and wiring for headlights!

After operations ceased, Ben Wallace, Al Goff, Xian Clere, John Gasper, Aaron Mangan, and I went out on the line car to repair some issues with the signal system. We were able to replace a cross arm bracket that had failed near Hancock Siding. Other work was supposed to continue on Sunday.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Even with the rain yesterday, the Eagle Scouts were able to accomplish some work on Illinois Terminal car 451. On Saturday, the windows were removed and yesterday the void behind where the windows once were was masked. This will allow the exterior to be sprayed without causing any over-spray on the interior of the car.

Part of a new exhibit was put together and set up in the main display hall. We are currently building an exhibit discussing local trolley history. In it will have information and pictures relating directly to the Hartford & Springfield Street Railway and Piney Ridge Park. The first component of this is the digitally scanned copies of a brochure that was distributed by the H&S explaining how to take a vacation by trolley between New York City, NY and Portland, ME including New Haven & Hartford, CT and Springfield & Worcester & Boston, MA. Inside the brochure, it also gives a bit of information about Piney Ridge Park and Mount Tom. As the year progresses, be on the lookout for additions to this exhibit and more exhibits opening.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Up in the car shop, Galen Semprebon and Brian Semprebon were hard at work getting the dust collector put together. It is now up and running. At this time, the wood working machines can be rearranged and set up for use. Pat McCann and John Pelletier spent the day working on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16 preparing her to be released into service. John was able to sand and revarnish the window trim on the car.

In Kelly Yard, Kevin Mitchell and those helping him with his Eagle Scout Project were working diligently on Illinois Terminal car 451. The windows have been removed in order to prepare the car for painting.

Over by the Dining Car, Marilyn Rodriguez helped me clean up the entrance by removing the old lattice fencing and put up newer picket fencing. This really spruced up the area.

Monday, April 16, 2012

On Saturday, we were able to replace 10 ties between Woods Barn Turnout and Borrup Road. Neil Newman, Xian Clere, Andy Cotton, Brian Semprebon, Dave Coppola, John Gasper, Aaron Mangan, and another volunteer helped me with tie replacement. We are hoping to get the tie handler and tie inserter running better so that we can use those machines to do tie replacement which will allow us to replace more ties in one session.

In the shop, Galen Semprebon worked on setting up the woodshop equipment in the car shop. John Pelletier repaired the hand brake on Line Car S-193. The brake cable had snapped, but luckily there was enough of it left to restring the brake cable. He also continued work on the electrical for the headlights on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16. Pat McCann repainted the bumpers on car 16 as well.

On Sunday, Camilo Santiago continued work on the Reading Caboose.

Pending weather, another track work session will take place this coming Saturday April 21st, 2012. We will either be working on replacing ties in the area between Borrup Road and the Hartman Siding Switch or removing spikes from relay ties to reuse.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Track work begins at 8am on Saturday morning. Those who wish to help should arrive at the museum between 7:45 and 8:00! Be sure to bring something to drink (water or Gatorade), work gloves and NO open toed shoes. Work boots are preferable.

Monday, April 9, 2012

The museum was very busy on Saturday both for Easter Bunny Fun Day and the work that was accomplished. First, operations did an amazing job handling over 600 passengers and accomplishing some training runs as well.

Out in the shop, Galen Semprebon was busy working on building a patio, yes a patio. When the concrete was poured for the shop many years ago, there was about four feet in the rear of the shop that the concrete was never poured for. Using bricks and concrete blocks, Galen has made a much more usable surface in the rear of the shop. Next weekend, it is planned to install the air handling unit, which makes it one step closer to setting up all of the wood shop machinery.

In the Kelly Barn, I was able to fix the back of the barn where a trolley car must have hit it years ago. The gap in the rear panels has been there ever since I started at the museum. It is there no longer.

At the end of the day, Xian Clere, Aaron Mangan, and I pulled spikes and prepped a batch of relay ties. We will be having a track work session on this coming Saturday! All who are interested in helping should arrive at the museum between 7:45 and 8:00am on Saturday morning.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Yesterday was opening day for the museum and there was quite a buzz at the museum, including news crews from WFSB and NBC-Connecticut! Today the museum is open from 10am to 4:30pm for Easter Bunny Fun Day. Come on down and enjoy the day!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Be sure to purchase your tickets early for the 1st Annual Wine & Beer Tasting at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. It will take place on May 11th from 5pm to 8pm. All proceeds will go to support the repair fund for the three trolley cars damaged in the break in and theft of copper and brass that occurred at the beginning of this year. Money will also be used for security enhancements.

Tickets for this 21+ event are $25.00 and may be purchased at either the museum or Joe's Fine Wines & Spirits during normal business hours OR by calling 860.627.6540 OR by emailing office@ceraweb.org.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

A lot was accomplished in the Visitor Center, most of it relating to painting and displays.

George Contrada worked on replacing broken windows in the New York Ontario & Western Caboose. Galen Semprebon meanwhile put up boards to prevent patrons from climbing up the ladders on the caboose.

In front of the caboose, the Ponemah Locomotive received some much needed paint on the interior and the trucks. Brendan Slane worked on finishing the painting of the interior floor and wire brushed & painted the trucks of the locomotive.

Fair Haven & Westville car 154 looks like a totally different car. The entire car has been painted with the exception of the lower area on one side where we need to preserve the original "CONNECTICUT" lettering. The trim has been painted as well. Galen took on this projectand his son Brian assisted in some of the painting.

I have nearly finished the platforms to get into car 10 and the caboose. I will have to come in some night this week to finish them totally as we open on Friday.

On the other side of the parking lot, the Fire Museum is also almost ready to open. The fire trucks have been re-arraigned in the main hall and the lobby has been changed around. Gone is the old gift shop counter and display cabinet. The floor still needs to be cleaned better, but the fire sleigh is now located inside the lobby of the Fire Museum.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A lot has been accomplished during the off season! Inside the Visitor Center, work has been accomplished on the Ponemah locomotive, car 10, car 2056, and car 154.

Roger Pierson, Matt Januska, and Larry Lunden were able to do some paint scraping on Montreal Tramways 2056 which will be restored to Springfield Street Railway 575. This will be an ongoing restoration during the operating season.

Painting of the interior of the Ponemah Mills locomotive 1386 and Springfield Electric Railway car 10 has been accomplished using community service volunteers.

Galen Semprebon has been working on painting the trim work on Fair Haven and Westville car 154.

Tim Lesniak and Brian Semprebon have been working on building viewing platforms for car 10, the Ponemah locomotive, and the bobber caboose.

Roger, Larry, and Matt also took on the project of locating replacement parts for the vandalized cars.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier is busy buttoning up the work on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16.

Behind the scenes, Carol Zenczak is hard at work planning the Wine and Beer Tasting; Morgan vonEisengrein with the BBQ on the Line; and Marilyn Rodriguez is working on the planning of the Isle of Safety restoration.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The set up in the Visitor Center has continued. Galen & Brian Semprebon were able to move the remaining cars in place. We will wait until after Cabin Fever Days to move the Bobber Caboose inside since we will need that space for people to congregate during the event. Larry Lunden continued to sweep up after the mess that is created when we are working in the Visitor Center. While this doesn't seem like a glamorous or helpful job, it is something that NEEDS to be done and many of us don't have the desire to do this after a days work. Thank you Larry for doing this!

Roger Pierson and Matt Januska continued to work on Springfield Street Railway car 575 (Montreal 2056) removing paint. When they are done, we will be able to repaint it in Springfield, Mass colors.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier has been working on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16.

In the background, JF Smith has been working on a NEW handout for this coming season as well as the next series of Trading Cards!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Much progress was made on Montreal Tramways car 2056, or should I say Springfield Street Railway 575 (which is what the car will be repainted as), by Roger Pierson, Matt Januska, and Larry Lunden. They spent time throughout the day yesterday scraping paint off of the car with Roger working on the car the whole day! While they were working on the side of the car, I was able to remove the dash for the lights on the end of the car on the east end. This was added on by Montreal and was not part of the car when the car was run in Springfield, MA. While doing this, I noticed that the base of the center end window was rotted and crumbling, so I removed that as well. Hopefully I can find someone who is skilled in woodworking that has time to remake the end window.

I also spent some time working on removing two of the broken windows in Springfield Terminal Railway car 10. The glass will need to be replaced in the windows and then reinstalled. Larry cleaned out the car from what was left inside it after Rails to the Darkside.

Galen Semprebon spent the afternoon working on cars 1201 and 154. Inside Cleveland car 1201, Galen repainted the floors and the conductors stand. Both were well worn. On the other side of the hall, Galen removed some of the aluminium that was covering the clerestory windows on Fair Haven & Westville car 154 and primed the exterior of the clerestory.

George Contrada, Ted Coppola, Dave Coppola, and Brian Semprebon started to dismantle load the Winterfest layouts into the trailers.

Up in the shop, John Pelletier was busy working on Springfield Terminal Railway car 16. He is currently replacing a section of roof that was rotted above the motorman in the baggage compartment.

John Gasper with some help from other Fire Museum members were able to remove the alternator from the Bucket Truck which will be rebuilt. Next season we should have a fully functional Bucket Truck.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

At the beginning of the week, I had received a call that a pallet of used crossing signal lights were available for the taking. This comes as many railroads are switching to LED crossing signal lights. The catch was that we had to pick them up this week. Last night, Al Goff and I met and loaded them in the back of my pick up. There were three large boxes that we had to consolidate into two boxes (all three would not fit in the bed of my truck). With these signal lights, we will be able to replace some of ours that need replacing and we will also be able to use them for parts to repair them as necessary.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Tarps that is. Marilyn Rodriguez was busy Saturday with Brian Semprebon, Dave Coppola, Matt Januska, and Roger Pierson working to get the Dining Car and Philadelphia and Reading Coach covered with tarps.

While she was doing that, I was removing tarps (from the cars that I had been able to get back under the Visitor Center). A lot of clean up was accomplished inside the main hall. Almost all of Winterfest has been broken down. Galen Semprebon has even begun to load the Winterfest Trailers. Car 10 and the Ponemah Mills Locomotive have been moved back into the main hall with help from Marilyn and Will Yungk. Next weekend we hope to be able to get the Bobber Caboose into the Visitor Center which will allow the Bangor & Aroostook Caboose under the train shed.

Across the parking lot, members of the Fire Museum were able to remove the hydraulic cylinders from the Bucket Truck to get them shipped out to be repacked.

I didn't get a chance to see what was going on in the shop. I did catch John Pelletier for a brief moment in the Visitor Center repairing a window for New Orleans Car 836.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Work on the floor of the operator's vestibule of Springfield Terminal Railway car 16 has commenced. The floor between the controller and the step has been removed and replaced with new wood. Over the years, the floor has worn paper-thin from the foot traffic through the car. The new tongue-and-groove flooring has been installed and will be painted once the warmer weather in the spring allows. This winter, we hope to assemble a complete set of heaters for the car and wire and install golden glow headlights on the car.

On the other track in the shop, Boston Elevated Railway car 5645 has been jacked and the motors removed. One armature was sent out to an electrical repair shop and repaired. Now that it was returned, a second will be sent out. Meanwhile, inside the car, the floor is being replaced where it has buckled.

Back in the Visitor Center, work is progressing quite quickly in disassembling Winterfest. The G Gauge table is almost completely disassembled. Soon, we will be able to move cars back into the Visitor Center.

About this Site

"Connecticut Company" is NOT an official blog of the Connecticut Trolley Museum. The articles posted within this site are the views of the contributors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization.

This blog site is named after the original Connecticut Company or ConnCo, which ran trolleys throughout Connecticut from 1910 to 1948. ConnCo was a subsidy of the New Haven Railroad. By 1948, ConnCo converted all trolley operation to buses, and the era came to a close in Connecticut.

However, eight years prior, in 1940, the Connecticut Electric Railway Association was formed in an effort to preserve a streetcar from Hartford. In 1941, CERA saved its first car, ConnCo 65 from the scrapper. When trolley service ended in 1948, CERA saved 7 more ConnCo cars.

Today, the Connecticut Trolley Museum is the oldest incorporated museum dedicated to railway preservation in the country. Although not the largest, CTM's has a collection covering many of the major types of trolley cars including streetcars, interurbans, elevated cars, and work cars from the Northeast, Midwest, Deep South and Internationally as well.